Let’s begin off this yr’s cider protection with Huge Fish Cider Co.’s Wassail! A Wassail is a celebration and collective ritual to create neighborhood and convey good harvests, so it appears an auspicious approach to start a brand new yr! Right here’s to many good and scrumptious issues for all of us.
Huge Fish Cider Firm makes its residence in Monterey, Virginia. The cidery was based in 2015, although the cidermaker Kirk Billingsly had greater than twenty years of residence cidermaking to his credit score earlier than beginning Huge Fish.
Right here’s somewhat about how the cidery is launched on the web site.
We make ciders utilizing locally-grown apples and conventional methods to create fully new flavors. Our cider is obtainable in a variety of off-dry to semi-sweet blends, in addition to seasonal choices.
Huge Fish has gained a number of finest in school, gold, silver, and bronze awards on the Nice Lakes Cider and Perry Competitors. We now have additionally gained each the Good Meals Award and a Made in Virginia Award.
Extra snippets of background seem in all of my earlier evaluations of Huge Fish Ciders, going again to the cidery’s first look in 2018. Right here’s the total record.
Punk and Henry (my #2 Favourite cider of 2022): http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2022/03/cider-review-big-fish-cider-cos-puck.html
And in case you didn’t see the favorites record: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2022/12/my-favorite-10-ciders-of-2022.html
Virginia Hewes Crab(my #1 favourite cider of 2020!): http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2020/10/cider-review-big-fish-cider-co-virginia.html
Wild Meadow: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2020/05/cider-review-big-fish-cider-cos-wild.html
Allegheny Gold (my #3 cider from 2019): http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2019/01/cider-review-whitewood-cider-company.html
Highland Scrumpy (my #3 cider from 2018): http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2018/08/cider-review-angry-orchard-ciders.html
Church Hill Blush: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2018/05/very-perry-may-aeppeltreows-orchard.html
Probably the greatest methods to search out out extra about Huge Fish Cider is to go to the homepage right here: https://www.bigfishcider.com/
In case you’d prefer to learn extra about wassailing, I like to recommend Dr. Maria Kennedy’s glorious weblog publish about Wassails previous and new: https://ciderwithmaria.com/2022/12/19/wassail-a-how-to-for-new-traditions/
Right here’s what Huge Fish Cider has to say concerning the Wassail.
Nonetheless gold naturally cloudy Medium Candy cider that includes Jonagold, Pink Girl, York, and Stayman apples, 8.5% abv.
From Outdated Norse “ves heil” actually that means “be you wholesome.” Mulled cider was historically drunk as an integral a part of wassailing, a medieval English ingesting custom to make sure a superb cider apple harvest the next yr. Wassail is made with conventional mulling spices, however not a lot as to eradicate the apple’s essence and style. It’s a fantastic wintertime drink.
Look: hazy, turmeric, bubbly
The Wassail appears like a mulled cider. The colour is a wealthy turmeric with loads of haze. I can barely see my fingers on the opposite facet of the glass. There are some bubbles that collect on the edges of the cider the place it rings the glass.
Aromas: clove, ginger, cinnamon, minerals, cranberry, apple and cherry
Huge Fish Cider Co.’s Wassail smells instantly like cinnamon, clove, ginger, orange, and moist apples. It’s tremendously engaging. Secondarily, I get notes of minerals cranberry, and cherry.
Sweetness/dryness: semi-sweet
It is a deliciously candy cider whose sweetness feels fruity and tastes like brown sugar. The sweetness is totally welcome on this drink. Learn on to see the way it suits in with this beautiful cider.
Flavors and ingesting expertise: nonetheless, spices, citrus, medium acid, some tannins
Wassail delighted us on a wintry vacation night. The entire flavors promised by the cider’s aromas got here by within the flavors superbly. Huge Fish selected to make this cider nonetheless with a bloom of heat, fruit, and spice. The cider must be candy however what I respect concerning the sweetness is the way it tastes fairly actual: nothing pretend or out of steadiness. It’s simply so excellent!
This spiced cider not solely has the spice notes of clove, cinnamon, and ginger I famous within the aromas; it additionally makes use of citrus—orange juice notes fairly successfully. The cider makes use of medium acids and rapid tannins that commingle with the clove taste particularly. Although it is lots spicy, the cider by no means feels scorching, pointed, or bitter. All notes play in live performance superbly. My mother described it as liquid apple pie. The apple speaks with ripe heat, however all components are essential to the general expertise. What a tremendous deal with.
Wassail!
